EastEnders’ Tamzin Outhwaite teases extended stay for Mel Owen

It looks like we are going to be seeing a lot more of Mel Owen on EastEnders, even after a shocking new year murder plot that will send reverberations through Albert Square.

Tamzin Outhwaite has revealed that she was only going to reprise her role as Mel for a year but a number of juicy storylines has seen her extending the role far into 2019.

Speaking during an appearance on Saturday Kitchen, the 48-year-old said that Mel Owen has made a far longer stay than she first envisioned, as the dramatic plots she has been involved in, has rekindled her love for the BBC soap.

Mel Owen and Ray Kelly will have a wedding that will never be forgotten
(Image: BBC / Kieron McCarron)

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Tamzin added: "So, I was going to be there for a year, and now I’ve extended it to be there a bit longer, because I’m having such a good time."

She admitted that she was tempted back to the role because it fit around her commitments as a mum but the recent storylines have seen her having to dive in and ‘hope to get some life back’ once the stories have run their course.

Tamzin said that the only way to ensure the storylines are dramatic enough, is to commit to them 100 per cent.

She said: "You just have to dive into a storyline with complete complete commitment and know that it will end and you get some life back.

"But, while you’re doing it you get so immersed that I suppose at the moment I am learning lines very quickly, I am reading scripts like they are page turners because you want to see what’s happening next.

"I am fully immersed in it, but there will come a time when I will have a bit of time to go to the gym and do a yoga class."

A new year’s murder plot will see Mel Owen and Ray Kelly in the thick of the action
(Image: BBC / Jack Barnes)

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The start of 2019 will see Mel Owen look to marry bigamist undercover cop Ray Kelly, with grisly consequences being promised.

It has been teased that after Ray is exposed for being married to two other women, that the story will get darker and that he could meet his maker at the murderous hands of Phil Mitchell .

In fact, so dark is the storyline that is unfolding, Tamzin has banned her children from watching her act them out on screen.

Tamzin said that Mel Owen was originally only returning for a year
(Image: BBC)